"My life is this: going up Bahia and down Floresta".In a simple phrase, the chronicler Rômulo Paes summarised the dynamic of many of those who lived in Belo Horizonte during the first decades of the XX century. In that era, "going up Bahia" meant leaving the residential areas, such as Floresta and Lagoinha, and travelling between the commercial centre in Praça da Estação and the administrative centre in Praça da Liberdade. The street that connected the two areas also became known for its cafes, which were frequented by poets and intellectuals such as Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Milton Campos, Joao Alphonsus, Emílio Moura, Abgar Renault and Pedro Nava.
Bahia Street reinvents itself from time to time, yet remains an important axis of economic and cultural activities in Belo Horizonte. Museums and other spaces dedicated to the arts are found among the neoclassic, modern and contemporary architecture of its buildings. Other cultural spaces can be found nearby, in addition to innumerous bars and restaurants.In order to understand what it is to be belohorizontino, there's nothing better than taking a stroll around the centre of the mineiro capital.
